Skip to main content
Go to the home page of the European Commission (opens in new window)
English English
CORDIS - EU research results
CORDIS

Pathiana Archaeological Landscapes Project

Project description

Pathiana: a small but powerful region in the history of West Africa

The Pathiana region, a small area in southern Senegal, has played a big role in the history of the Senegambia over the last millennium. From the 13th to the 20th centuries, the territory of Pathiana survived as a political unit and centre of power through four different states, and played an important role in the Atlantic trade. However, its archaeology has not been studied until now. The EU-funded PALP project will combine archival documents, oral traditions and archaeology to study the history of this fascinating region and its wider implications.

Objective

This project focuses on the archaeology and history of the territory of Pathiana, a small (30x40km) region in southern Senegal which has played a key role in the history of the Senegambia over the last millennium. From the 12th to the early 20th C, and through four major socio-political disruptions, Pathiana survived as a political unit and centre of power, becoming a key player in the Atlantic trade in the process. Nevertheless, despite its key historical importance, Pathiana has never been archaeologically or historically studied, except for some limited excavations conducted as part of the applicant’s PhD. The proposed project aims to redress this situation by combing archival research with surface survey and recording of oral traditions amongst village elders. This will generate three interrelated datasets -historical European accounts and maps, local oral historical narratives, and archaeological survey data- which will be combined to achieve two main goals.

Firstly, this project will rectify a major lacuna in our understanding of the Senegambia by systematically documenting the archaeology of Pathiana and its associated traditions. This will correlate for the first time the region’s intangible narratives with tangible remains and generate the chronologies and baselines for future research to build on. Additionally, this interdisciplinary dataset will be used to explore how the political structures of a small but powerful polity changed and adapted through seven centuries and three major societal upheavals, and how such structures were reflected in, and articulated through, the landscape. This project thus will generate highly significant data and interpretations concerning both the history of the Senegambia and wider debates on societal organization, political complexity, and the relationship between power and spatiality, as well as further exploring the long-standing dialogue between oral traditions, written sources and archaeology.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.

You need to log in or register to use this function

Programme(s)

Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.

Topic(s)

Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.

Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

MSCA-IF-EF-ST - Standard EF

See all projects funded under this funding scheme

Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

(opens in new window) H2020-MSCA-IF-2018

See all projects funded under this call

Coordinator

AGENCIA ESTATAL CONSEJO SUPERIOR DE INVESTIGACIONES CIENTIFICAS
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 160 932,48
Address
CALLE SERRANO 117
28006 MADRID
Spain

See on map

Region
Comunidad de Madrid Comunidad de Madrid Madrid
Activity type
Research Organisations
Links
Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 160 932,48
My booklet 0 0